How a Gallifrey Story Could Be Done

[Tom]

Just because Gallifrey is destroyed does not mean we can't have a story involving it. There are many creative way this could be done without bringing Gallifrey back. The Doctor directly going back in time would not be a good idea either. Here is my idea:

The episode starts off with the Tenth (or 11th) Doctor waking up to find himself on Gallifrey, he does not know where his companion is or where the Tardis is. As he leaves his quarters to investigate, other Timelords refer to him as Valix (I just made that up, LOL) and tell him good morning and such. Another Timelord named Tuvan approachs the Doctor and says 'Ah, Valix I have been looking for you, the high council meeting starts in 10 minutes' , The Doctor looks at Tuvan and says 'I know you, your on the high council' , Tuvan replies ' You must have not had enough sleep, of course you know me and your a member of the high council too, so I don't understand were your coming from'.

We see the the Doctor and Tuvan enter the high council chamber were other timelords greet the Doctor as Valix. The Council then discuss what there going to do about the Daleks who have already made several incusions into Timelord protected area's (this is the very beginning of the Timewar). 'We are just not equiped enough to handle this' says one Timelord, 'we have brought the Master back to help us but now he is missing' says another. 'We need to recall the Doctor, he has saved Gallifrey before' , 'No' says Tuvan 'he is to much of a loose canon!'. 'What have you to say of this issue Valix?' says one of the timelords, The Doctor replies 'Well.. The Doctor, hmm' he rambles back still in thought about what is really going on.

Anyways, the council does vote and they recall the doctors Tardis, the council then walks into an adjacent room and we see the Tardis materializing, then we see the Eighth Doctor walk out and look around, 'Oh dear don't tell me this is another trial' , 'No doctor' the High Council president says, ' something far more serious..' We then focus in to the Tenth doctor's wide eyed face... Start the opening credits.

So the rest of the story the Doctor has to solve the following:
- Why is he here? (at this point right before the Time War heats up).
- Why does everyone think he is Council Member Valix?
- Where is his Companion?
- Where is his Tardis?
- Should he interact at all with the Eighth Doctor.
- Should he he do anything to affect the course of the Timewar and possibly save Gallifrey?

This story we would not see the Daleks or the actual Timewar, its an all Gallifrey story that would deal with the doctor emotionaly struggling with the fact that he has the opportunty to possibly save the Timelords vs. breaking the laws of time and also dealing with how to deal with his former self while at the same time trying to figure out just what is going on. By the end of the episode nothing will change in the timeline but something could be set up for a future episode.

Anyways this is my idea that i may write if i have time.

 

[Brendan Moody]

The real question for any potential Gallifrey story is not "How can we fit it into continuity?", but "How can we prevent it from being an underwhelming planet fully of old men in funny outfits?"

Seriously, I don't want to see Gallifrey at all unless it can match the potent image of the Time Lords that the new series has created. Manage that, and it can be a flashback, a rejuvenated society, a fiendish illusion, whatever.

 

[Bacl]

I'd rather see a post-Time War "chronicle" (maybe three linked episodes) starring the 9th Doctor presumably right after the Time War. Flashbacks to Gallifrey before and during the war would be very delicious if they featured the 8th Doctor, a clever way to have a "multi-doctor" story with two under utilyzed Doctors, the Time War, and Gallifrey.

 

[captcalhoun]

^that'll never happen cuz they'll never get Ecclescake back for more than one episode if that.

 

[Marc]

The real question for any potential Gallifrey story is not "How can we fit it into continuity?", but "How can we prevent it from being an underwhelming planet fully of old men in funny outfits?"

You left out "how do we get past the transduction barrier"

 

[Davros]

I still do not believe Gallifrey was ever really destroyed.

 

[Lonemagpie]

The real question for any potential Gallifrey story is not "How can we fit it into continuity?", but "How can we prevent it from being an underwhelming planet fully of old men in funny outfits?"

Well, you could make it CG, but basically yeah, the question isn't "how do we do Gallifrey?" it's "Why would we do Gallifrey?" It's power is in its absence.

Having said that, a story where we learn something of it (in order to be more affected by its absence, of course) would work- say if the Doc arrived at a place that he thought was Gallifrey reborn, but which in the end was just a partial recording in the Matrix or in that big library thing, or a fake created by the bad guys to make him give up some info in a Mission Impossible style scam...

 

[ClayinCA]

^that'll never happen cuz they'll never get Ecclescake back for more than one episode if that.

Just out of curiosity (and apologies if this is opening up a can of worms), but why do you keep calling him "Ecclescake"...?

 

[captcalhoun]

because in England we have cakes called Eccles cakes and his name's Eccleston and i find the similarity amusing.

 

[The]

^I've heard that nickname from other Brits, as well. A bit like "David Ten-Inch"...

 

[The]

Oh and I don't care whether we ever see Gallifrey again or not. But, if we do, I agree it would have to be seriously revamped to match the love the new series gives it in hindsight...

 

[The Wormhole]

You say this is supposed to be before the Time War heats up, but you have the Time Lord council mentioning that the Master has already run away. The Master didn't run away until it became clear the Time Lords were losing the war. Specifically, it was when the Dalek Emperor took control of something called the Cruciform.

 

[Tom]

You say this is supposed to be before the Time War heats up, but you have the Time Lord council mentioning that the Master has already run away. The Master didn't run away until it became clear the Time Lords were losing the war. Specifically, it was when the Dalek Emperor took control of something called the Cruciform.

Yes your right, probably should not have added the master line. Technicaly the story does not even have to have the Eighth Doctor it was just to make it more interesting.

 

[Candlelight]

You need to have an A- and B-story running side by side, with current Doctor trying to find an artefact that will help him during whatever is happening at present, something he saw during the closing stages of the war, and a B-story featuring Paul McGann fighting Daleks and watching Gallifrey destroyed before his very eyes.

I would say a two- or three-part story, but not at the end of the season.

 

[Tom]

You need to have an A- and B-story running side by side, with current Doctor trying to find an artefact that will help him during whatever is happening at present, something he saw during the closing stages of the war, and a B-story featuring Paul McGann fighting Daleks and watching Gallifrey destroyed before his very eyes.

I would say a two- or three-part story, but not at the end of the season.

Wow you read my mind on some of that, The plot was going to revolve around 'The Book of Rasilon' and artifact said to hold the very essence of Timelord civilization. The Doctor was sent back under to save the Book from being destroyed when Gallifrey was, the Doctor has to first get it under the guise of Valix (as not to destrupt the timestream) wich is a big task he finds out and then has to hide it in the Eighth's Doctors Tardis (again we could get away with not showing the 8th doctor if needed).

The B story would have been about the Doctors companion escaping captivity and finding her way though a now barren Death Zone and meeting an interesting stanger along the way. Thing was i wanted to avoid the Timewar story for the most part as that should be saved for a big film or never full shown at all.

 

[Cutter John]

I know this'll get me laughed off the forum, but the only way I'd like to see Gallefrey again at this point is if they went ahead and did the Doctors origin story. Assuming they could find the right actors of course.

 

[Tom]

I see no problems with an origins story at all, there is alot of flexibilty there you can pretty much get any good actor to play a younger first doctor. Some people say if you do that then the mystery will be gone, but if you do it the right way you can stilll retain some mysterys while at the same time revealing some new things.

 

[ManOnTheWave]

I still do not believe Gallifrey was ever really destroyed.

What an intriguing idea.

 

[Sci]

I see no problems with an origins story at all, there is alot of flexibilty there you can pretty much get any good actor to play a younger first doctor. Some people say if you do that then the mystery will be gone, but if you do it the right way you can stilll retain some mysterys while at the same time revealing some new things.

I disagree on the mystery part. But even if I didn't, I still don't think it should ever be done, because it will invariably be a let-down. Nothing they could possibly do would ever match what people have built up in their own minds.

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

I say move forward, not back. As much as us fans want it, we'll likely never fill in that hole with the new series. Moff might think differently and give it to us, but I honestly doubt it.

And I agree that Gallifrey will come back some day. Stuck in a parallel universe, time loop, or whatever, it's just not here - and I hope that they'll take at least a couple years finding it and then bringing it back.

Oh, and in my fantasy world, this whole arc will start off with a completely unrelated episode. It would feature the Doctor already travelling with, sans introduction, a very ordinary Earth girl... Named Romana.

Mark